


A Little Fall of Rain

by cmk418



Category: L.A. Confidential (1997)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-24 13:23:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13812057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cmk418/pseuds/cmk418
Summary: Ed thinks of Bud when it rains.





	A Little Fall of Rain

It didn’t rain often in Southern California, but every time it did, Edmund Exley’s thoughts turned to Bud White. He could see White, standing there with a grainy black and white photo clutched in his hand, looking slightly demented, rain dripping from his hair and clothes. This was the White that haunted Ed’s mind, all violence and power, ready to hurt him, and a few minutes later, ready to hurt someone else. This was the White that, in his darkest moments, Ed found incredibly desirable.

Every time it rained, be it a drizzle or a downpour, Ed’s hand reached for the phone. He’d had the number from about a month after the ceremony. There was only one L.Bracken in Bisbee, Arizona. He knew that he should leave them both in peace. They deserved it after all. Still, it gave him a sort of comfort to know that they both were a telephone call away. He never had the courage to pick up the phone and dial it.

Until today.

It might have been the case he was working on, tying him up in knots. It might have been that after three years in his current position as deputy chief, he had finally succumbed to loneliness. It might have been that he just needed the motivation that no one other than White could give him.

He dialed the final digit of the phone number and waited. The phone on the other end seemed to ring forever. Ed was about to hang up when a familiar voice stated, “White”.

No “hello”. No “this is Bud”. Just “White” as if Bud was answering the phone down the hall instead of hundreds of miles away.

“Hi, Bud,” Ed said simply into the phone. 

“Exley?” Disbelief colored Bud’s voice.

“Yeah.” Ed’s heart seemed to beat faster as soon as Bud said his name. “How are you? How’s Lynn?”

“We’re fine. Lynn’s not here right now. Do you want me to let her know you called?”

“Actually, I called to talk to you.”

***

The phone was ringing. He had been in the bedroom when it started and limped his way into the kitchen. They didn’t get a lot of calls here. Most anyone calling for Lynn could have just run over to the dress shop and delivered a message. She spent most of her waking hours at the dress shop. He saw her in the evening when she came home for dinner and shared some of the gossip of her day. He wasn’t interested in the lives of people that he barely knew, but he felt that Lynn needed the outlet, so he’d let her spill their secrets, occasionally asking a question here or there so she’d know he was listening. They still slept together, of course. The sex had calmed down a bit over time, but the need for companionship was still there.

The phone hadn’t stopped by the time he reached the kitchen. He picked up the phone. “White.” It was a habit from his cop days that he hadn’t completely rid himself of.

“Hi, Bud.” The voice was familiar. One that haunted his every moment here in this empty house. The sunshine here was so bright, a constant reminder of the day he left L.A. Seeing Exley standing on the corner, looking every bit the hero the LAPD made him out to be. Every time he imagined Ed there, he imagined himself telling Lynn to stop the car. There was something about Exley, had always been something about Exley looking so earnest, that Bud wanted to see him wrecked.

The rare occasions it rained, the memories were so much worse. He was filled with residual guilt of how he had treated Lynn- he’d never laid a hand on her in anger since that moment. And Exley…

Exley with the fear in his eyes as the realization dawned. Exley’s slender body under his hands as Bud tossed him around like a rag doll. Exley with hair mussed, glasses askew, face bleeding, screaming himself hoarse just to get Bud to listen. Part of that featured in Bud’s go-to fantasies, but he’d never admit anything like that to Lynn. He suspected that she may already know.

Night brought those last moments, the comradeship, the could-have-beens before the world went black and everything changed.

Bud thinks his mind must be playing tricks on him. “Exley?” he whispered.

The confirmation came through the phone, just as soft. “Yeah. How are you? How’s Lynn?”

Of course, Exley would want to talk to Lynn, Bud thought. It was never about him. He’d just play along. “We’re fine. Lynn’s not here right now. Do you want me to let her know you called?”

“Actually, I called to talk to you.” Bud nearly dropped the phone at Exley’s admission.

“What do you need?” Bud said, and it seemed like a strange phrase to his ears. It had been so long since anyone needed him for anything. With his leg as it was, he wasn’t good for much. He felt that his physical reflexes were a hundred times slower than when he was a cop. Part of that could be blamed on his injuries and the rest could be credited to being out of practice. His mental faculties were still pretty solid.

The pause at that question seemed unusually long. Then Exley started to talk about a case that he and the LAPD was working on. Bud thought it was a bit unorthodox- they weren’t going to solve this case over the phone, but he’d listen to Exley and offer suggestions if they came to him.

***

When Lynn came home later that evening, she found Bud sitting at the kitchen table with his shirt sleeves rolled up. He was on the phone and had several pieces of paper in front of him, covered with the chicken scratch that was Bud’s handwriting. 

The one thing that made her freeze in her tracks and take a second look was that Bud was smiling. It had been so long since she’d seen the genuine article. She thought it might have just been the pain that had been his constant companion since that night at the Victory motel, but now it was obvious. He’d missed his life.

He looked up and saw her standing in the doorway. “Lynn’s home,” he said into the phone. There was a pause and then Bud held the phone out to her. “Exley wants to say ‘hello’.”

She pulled out a chair from the other side of the table and took the phone from him. “Well, this is a pleasant surprise.”

“I should have called before now,” he said. 

She didn’t disagree with him. The first six months they were in Bisbee, Bud would occasionally say, “I wonder what Exley’s up to.” Gradually, the queries tapered off. Bud would still mention Ed from time to time and Lynn believed that he thought about Exley and the Night Owl case more often than he let on. It would have been very simple for Bud to pick up the phone and call Ed on any of those occasions, but Lynn thought that there was some sense of obligation to her that kept him from doing it.

“How are you, Ed?”

“I’m doing well. They made me deputy chief.”

She smiled. He was the same, always reaching for the next spot on the ladder. “Congratulations.” She glanced over to where Bud was looking at the notes he had written up from his conversation with Ed. “You were talking to Bud about a case?”

“Just something that the department’s been looking at for months. The press has been calling us out, looking for swift justice, but we haven’t been able to crack it just yet. I thought just talking to Bud might clarify some things in my own mind, but I don’t know…”

Lynn reached over and covered Bud’s hand with her own. She’d known this moment was coming for three years, maybe even longer than that. “Maybe it would help if he was seeing what you were seeing.” Bud looked as if he was going to argue, but she squeezed his hand. “He’ll need a place to stay.”

There was a long pause on the other end, then the sound of Ed clearing his throat. “If he doesn’t mind the couch, he can stay with me.”

“That’s fine. He’ll see you in a couple days.” With that, Lynn hung up the phone.

“Lynn,” Bud started.

“You need this. Go and help Ed figure things out. It’s what you’re good at. You’ll be good for each other.”

“Lynn.”

“It’s settled.”

***

“He’ll see you in a couple days,” Lynn didn’t even leave time for an argument before hanging up the phone.

Ed set aside his case file, got up from his desk, and left the building. Outside, a light drizzle was falling. He felt the droplets on his skin and thought, Bud will be here soon.


End file.
